Every five years, stakeholders in Mineral, Sanders and Lake counties gather to redevelop an overall plan addressing the main issues the counties face together.

The gathering is sponsored by the Mission West Community Development Partners, and it is tweaked annually. But March 16 at the Paradise Center, brand new paper was brought out to start the process from ground zero.

Nearly 60 people broke into roundtable discussions on agriculture and forestry, housing, infrastructure, small business needs, tourism and emergency planning. Participants could choose their subjects of choice and move from table to table, brainstorming and sharing experiences.

Kayla Mosher with Kaniksu Land Trust in Thompson Falls was primarily interested in tourism.

“My position (recreation specialist) was newly formed as we see visitors coming in droves now and outdoor recreation is a big part of their visitation. Being prepared and innovative for their needs is important,” she said.

Agri-tourism and eco-tourism were explained with examples of bicycle tours riding from farms to ranches to apiaries. Mountain biking is also taking off and discussions were vigorous as they tied into snowmobile trails and multi-use venues.

Ideas were flowing at every table as the enthusiasm seemed contagious.

Lunch was served and many took a tour of the historic Paradise Elementary School while several kept imagining and dreaming from the morning sessions.

Everyone then placed dots on what they felt were the top three areas to navigate their energy and resources to.

When the dust settled, housing remains the number one hurdle.

Purchasing bare land for housing has been the first step in so many cases, and that is where it ends most of the time because of funding. Land donations from the private sector are rare to nonexistent.

Roman Zylawy, Mineral County Commissioner, reminded the room that 93% of his county is public land so that asking for a private land endowment is almost impossible.

“We need to have discussions with our elected representatives and the USFS about having land donated so that housing developments can proceed. What is the harm of them giving us land that helps us for housing needs that even their own department will benefit from?”

An audience member asked, “Since this is public land we are going to be asking for, how would people in, say Maryland, feel about this?”

Rep. Denley Loge, House District 14, replied, “We’ve already discussed how tourism is changing our infrastructure, so we say to them that we need housing for the people to work to supply you (Maryland) visitors the services you’ll want and need when you come to the Big Sky Country.”

Being situated between Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks can be considered an untapped blessing for enthusiastic entrepreneurs who already live here or have relocated. And several were in the room this day.

“We should start thinking of the things we never thought we would be able to do in our region”, said Jim Thaden, Executive Director of Mission West. “Because this time around, there is ARPA money and the CARES Act money that will be flowing through our economy over the next several years. And then there’s the Infrastructure money that won’t start being dispersed until 2023 or 24,” he shared.

“For the past 25 years, we’ve been scraping by trying to do just little things. And it’s been hard, for me at least, to shift gears because everything has changed. That’s what this meeting was about. Getting down on paper, everyone’s thoughts so that we can start this process with a big, big pile of ideas”.

He also shared a word of caution and asked that people not look at opportunistic ventures that sacrifice the values and character of the area.

Next month each county will hold public hearings where community members are given the opportunity to express their needs in each of the roundtable categories. Through this process a list of projects is identified and later prioritized based on the funding opportunities available and the urgency of the project timeline.